Cross Country | 10/14/2020 8:00:00 AM
This fall, the Clarkson University Athletic Department will shine some light on some of the outstanding careers of athletes from the last few decades with the Golden Knight Alumni Spotlight. Check back every Wednesday for a new feature on some of the best to wear the Green and Gold.
At the end of his freshman year in 2002-03, Sam Morse decided to take his first shot at running a marathon, heading to Canada to compete in the Ontario Shores Marathon. That race, and subsequent marathons, helped propel him to all-star honors as a member of the Clarkson University Cross Country team.
Morse, a native of Camden, NY, was one of the top competitors for the Golden Knights as soon as he stepped on campus in the fall of 2002. He won multiple races for the Green and Gold, and eventually earned Liberty League First-Team All-Star honors in both 2004 and 2005, when he placed third as a junior and sixth during his senior season at the conference meets. He also gained Atlantic All-Region honors in 2004, taking 18th at the NCAA Atlantic Regionals with a time of 25 minutes, 52 seconds on St. Lawrence's campus.
While Morse displayed plenty of talent and earned numerous accolades while at Clarkson, his love of running and competing has since placed him in the top tiers of marathon runners in the United States. During his sophomore year at Clarkson, Morse ran in the Boston Marathon and was 341st among 17,950 runners in April 2004, crossing the finish line eight seconds before the three-hour mark. While that was an impressive feat for a 20-year-old, Morse is even faster now in his 30s.
Morse first attempted to make the 2016 US Olympic Team, qualifying with a sub 1:05:00 half marathon and then placing 46th in Los Angeles in February 2016 in 2:26:49. He has continued to trim minutes off his best times and was once again ready for the US Olympic Qualifier in 2020 thanks to a 2:18:06 time at the Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, MN, on June 22, 2019. While he missed out on making the Olympic team scheduled to compete in Tokyo (which consists of just three male runners and three female runners from the United States), Morse continues to be an example for current cross country athletes at Clarkson University.
